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Note G.—Page 245.
The following additional observations upon New-Orleans, its
parish, and neighbourhood, convey, at a glance, the general resources
of this region of country, besides containing much information
not embodied in the work:—
“The parish of Orleans includes the city. Chef Menteur,
Rigolets, Bayou Bienvenu, Bayou Gentilly, and Bayou St. Johns,
are all in this parish, and are famous in the history of the late war,
Lake Pontchartrain, lake Borgne, Barataria bay, gulf of Mexico,
Caminda bay, lake Des Islets, lake Rond, Little lake, and Quacha
lake, are in the limits of this parish. Sugar, and after that, cotton,
are the staples. Along the coast there are groves of orange-trees,
greater part of the defences, that are intended to fortify the city of
New-Orleans against the attack of a foreign foe. The chief fortifications
are on those points, by which the British approached
toward the city during the late war. Extensive fortifications of
brick have been erected at Petits Coquilles, Chef Menteur, and
Bayou Bienvenu, the two former guarding the passes of the Rigolet,
between lake Borgne and lake Pontchartrain, and the latter
the approach from lake Borgne toward New-Orleans. A great
work, to mount 120 cannon, is erecting at Placquemine on the
Mississippi. These works, when finished, will not fall far short
of the expense 2,000,000 dollars. Fort St. Johns, at the entrance
of the Bayou St. Johns into lake Pontchartrain, is well situated
for the defence of the pass. It is an ancient establishment of the
former regime. The guns are of vast calibre; but they appear to
be sealed, and the walls have a ruinous aspect. These points of
defence have been selected with great judgment, and have been
fortified with so much care, that it is supposed no enemy could
ever again approach the city by the same passes, through which it
was approached by the British in the past war. New-Orleans,
the key of the Mississippi valley, and the great depot of its agriculture
and commerce, is already a city of immense importance,
and is every year becoming more so. This city has strong natural
defences, in its position and its climate. It is now strongly defended
by artificial fortifications. But, after all, the best defence
of this, and of all other cities, is the vigilant and patriotic energy
of the battalions of free men, who can now, by steamboats, be
brought down to its defence in a few days from the remotest points
of the west. It is not to be forgotten, that by the same conveyance,
an enemy might also be brought against it.
Of the other parishes, we may remark, in general, that as far up
the Mississippi as the parish of Baton Rouge, on the east side,
and Point Coup e on the west, the cultivation of the sugar-cane is
the chief pursuit of the inhabitants. The same may be said of
Placquemine, Lafourche, and Attakapas. The staple article of
the western parishes beyond is cotton.
The parishes north of lake Pontchartrain, which formerly made
a part of Florida, with the exception of some few tracts, and
the alluvions of Pearl river and Bogue Chitte, have a sterile soil.
The inhabitants raise large herds of cattle, and send great quanti
and coal. They burn great quantities of lime from the beds of
shells, which cover large tracts near the lakes; they also send
sand from the beaches of the lakes, for covering the pavements of
New-Orleans. They have also, for some years past, manufactured
brick to a great amount, and have transported them across
the lake. They have a great number of schooners that ply on the
lakes, in this and other employments. The people engaged in this
extensive business, find the heavy tolls demanded on the canal a
great impediment in the way of the profit of this trade.[2] The
country generally is covered with open pine woods, and has small
tracts of second-rate land interspersed among these tracts. The
country is valuable from its inexhaustible supplies of timber and
wood for the New-Orleans market.
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